1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a resin molding for vehicle use and a manufacturing method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a resin molding for vehicle use, and a manufacturing method thereof, preferably applied to a front end panel which is arranged on the front end side of a vehicle and into which a heat exchanger such as a radiator is incorporated.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, according to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-129935, there is provided a front end panel on which a panel body, into which a radiator is incorporated, and a guide duct section provided on the front side of a vehicle are integrally molded into one body. In this connection, the guide duct section is a duct-shaped member for guiding cooling air, which flows past a running vehicle, to the radiator.
However, according to the invention described in the above unexamined patent publication, the panel body and the guide duct section are simply integrated into one body with each other. Therefore, for example, in the case of a light collision of a vehicle, there is a high possibility that the panel body section is damaged together with the guide duct section.
When the panel body section is damaged, the entire front end panel must be replaced with a new one. Therefore, the repair of the vehicle is very expensive and must be paid for by the vehicle owner.
In this connection, when a gap exists between the heat exchanger and the panel body section, a portion of air guided by the guide duct to the heat exchanger such as a radiator flows onto the downstream side in such a manner that a portion of the air makes a detour in the periphery of the heat exchanger. Therefore, the quantity of air passing through the heat exchanger is decreased. As a result, the radiating capacity (heat exchanging capacity) is lowered.
In order to solve the above problems, it is possible to consider a means for tightly closing the gap between the heat exchanger and the panel body section with foaming resin such as urethane foam. However, this means is disadvantageous in that the number of parts and the cost of assembly increase.
In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, on the forward end side of the guide duct section of the panel body section made of hard resin, there is provided a flexible section made of a flexible soft material, the mechanical strength of which is lower than that of the hard resin, integrally molded together with the guide duct section.
However, conventionally, in the case of forming an insert resin molding made of soft material such as elastomer, as shown in FIG. 14, the soft material member 1 is set in the cavity 5 formed between the upper metallic mold 3 and the lower metallic mold 4, and the molding resin 2 is introduced into this cavity 5 by means of injection molding, and then the thus molded object is picked up so as to provide a resin molding made of the soft material 1. According to this conventional method, the following problems may be encountered. The plane direction of the soft material member 1 to be inserted and the plane direction C of the molding resin 2 coincide with each other as shown in FIG. 14. Therefore, a strong resin pressure of the melt resin is given to the inserted soft material member 1. Therefore, the soft material member 1 is compressed and deformed in the metallic mold, and further the melt resin gets into the soft material member 1 as shown in FIG. 14. When the melt resin gets into the soft material member 1 as shown in FIG. 14, the soft material member 1 of the insert resin molding is partially deformed as shown in FIG. 14.
In the case where a resin molding of a soft material is formed by the method of multi-color injection molding in which two types of materials, the colors or materials of which are different from each other, are respectively and successively charged into a metallic mold, as shown in FIG. 15, the soft material member 1 adhering to the molding resin 2 is restricted by the molding resin 2, so that contraction of the soft material member 1 is suppressed. However, an end portion of the soft material member 1 is not restricted. Therefore, the end portion of the soft material member 1 is greatly contracted. Since the contraction is not uniform, the soft material member 1 is deformed.
Further, according to the common manufacturing method (multi-color injection molding method) of manufacturing a resin molding made of resin materials of not less than two types, for example, as described in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 2-8572, a boundary face of resin is flat.
Therefore, the following problem may be encountered. Since a contact area of resin on the boundary face is small, it is difficult to increase the joining strength of the resin.
The present has been accomplished to solve the above problems. It is a first object of the present invention to prevent damage to a panel body section and guide duct section by absorbing an impact force and reducing collision energy acting on the panel body when a flexible section is deformed even if the impact force acts on a bumper section, in the case of a light collision of a vehicle.
The aforementioned problems are caused because resin molding pressure is given in the plane direction of a soft material member to be inserted in the insert molding of a soft material member. From the above viewpoint, a second object of the present invention is established. It is a second object of the present invention to prevent the deformation of a flexible material section of a soft material member of a resin molding by not applying the molding resin pressure in the plane direction of the soft material member to be inserted.
In the resin molding of a soft material member conducted by the method of multi-color injection molding, a great deformation of the soft material member is caused by a difference between the contraction of an adhesion section of the soft material member with the molding resin and the contraction of an end section in which the soft material member is open. The present invention has been accomplished in the above viewpoint. It is a third object of the present invention to prevent the deformation of a flexible material section of a soft material member of a resin molding by decreasing this contraction force.
It is a fourth object of the present invention to increase a joining strength of resin on a boundary face.
In order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a front end panel arranged on the rear side of a bumper section (520) to absorb an impact force acting on the front side of a vehicle, into which at least a heat exchanger (21) is incorporated, comprising: a panel body section (450) made of resin into which the heat exchanger (100, 200) is incorporated; a guide duct section (451) integrally molded on the front side of the panel body section (450) of the vehicle and protruded onto the front side of the vehicle so as to guide air into the heat exchanger (100, 200); and a flexible section (452) arranged on the forward end side of the guide duct section (451) and integrally molded together with the guide duct section (451), the flexible section (452) being made of flexible material, the mechanical strength of which is lower than that of the panel body section (450).
Due to the above structure, even if an impact force (collision force) acts on the bumper section (520), the collision force can be absorbed when the flexible section (452) is deformed. Accordingly, an intensity of collision energy acting on the panel body (450) can be reduced. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the panel body section (450) and the guide duct section (451) from being damaged in the case of a light collision. Therefore, it is possible to decrease the cost of a repair which must be paid by the owner of the vehicle.
In this connection, the front end section of a vehicle is composed of a plurality of parts such as a front end panel, bumper section (520) and so forth. Accordingly, depending upon the fluctuation of the size of each part, there is a possibility that the guide duct section (451) and the bumper section (520) interfere with each other and it becomes impossible to incorporate the front end panel and the bumper section (520) into the front end section of the vehicle.
In order to solve the above problem, it is possible to take a countermeasure in which the manufacturing tolerance of each part is strictly managed in the manufacturing process. However, when the above countermeasure is adopted, the manufacturing costs of the front end panel and the bumper section (520) may be increased.
However, according to the present invention, the flexible section (452) is provided on the forward end side of the guide duct section (451). Therefore, even if the guide duct section (451) and the bumper section (520) interfere with each other, the fluctuation of the size can be absorbed when the flexible section (452) is bent. Accordingly, the front end panel and the bumper section (520) can be easily incorporated.
Consequently, the assembling property of the front end panel and the bumper section (520) can be enhanced without raising the manufacturing costs of the front end panel and the bumper section (520).
The present invention provides a front end panel having a panel body (450) made of resin into which at least a heat exchanger (21) is incorporated, wherein a deformable seal section (461) for tightly closing a gap (xcex4) between the panel body (450) and the heat exchanger (21) is molded integrally with the panel body (450).
Due to the above structure, it is possible to tightly close a gap between the heat exchanger (21) and the panel body section (450) without causing an increase in the number of parts and an increase in the cost of assembly.
In this connection, it is preferable that the mechanical strength of the seal section (461) is lower than that of the panel body section (450) and also it is preferable that the seal section (461) is made of material having flexibility.
In the resin molding of the present invention, in the melting section between the soft material member section (flexible section and seal section) and the molding resin section (panel body section), a step portion is provided in the direction of the planes of both the soft material member section and the molding resin section. Due to the foregoing, it is possible to avoid a case in which the molding resin pressure is strongly given to the inserted soft material member in its plane direction. Accordingly, deformation of the soft material member section of the resin molding can be prevented.
In the resin molding of the present invention, a forward end portion of the soft material member section of the resin molding is corrugated in the multi-color injection molding of the soft material member. Due to the foregoing, a contraction force at the forward end portion of the soft material member section is reduced, so that the soft material member section is prevented from being greatly deformed.
In the resin molding of the present invention, a belt-shaped hard resin section is provided approximately in parallel with the melting section in the soft material member section. Due to the above structure, contraction of the forward end portion of the soft material member section is suppressed by this belt-shaped hard resin section so as to prevent the occurrence of deformation.
In the resin molding of the present invention, a large number of slits are provided in the soft material member section. Due to the above structure, contraction of the forward end portion of the soft material member section can be distributed to each portion divided by the slits. Therefore, deformation of the forward end portion of the soft material member section can be suppressed.
In the resin molding of the present invention, the soft material member section is molded by the method of injection compression molding. Therefore, contraction of the soft material member section is concentrated in the direction of thickness and contraction of the soft material member section is suppressed in the direction of the plane so as to suppress the deformation of the soft material member section.
The present invention provides a fiber reinforced resin product composed of a reinforced resin section (panel body section) (P1) made of fiber reinforced resin, in which fibers are mixed so as to enhance the mechanical strength, and a simple resin section (flexible section) (P2) made of simple resin in which fibers are not mixed, the fibers protruding at random from the reinforced resin section (P1) to the simple resin section (P2) on a boundary surface (BS) between the reinforced resin section (P1) and the simple resin section (P2).
Due to the foregoing, it is possible to increase a contact area of the reinforced resin with the simple resin. Therefore, it becomes possible to increase a joining strength of the fiber reinforced resin to the simple resin without increasing the manufacturing cost of the fiber reinforced resin molding.
Further, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a fiber reinforced resin product composed of a reinforced resin section (panel body section) (P1) made of fiber reinforced resin, in which fibers are mixed so as to enhance the mechanical strength, and a simple resin section (flexible section) (P2) made of simple resin in which fibers are not mixed, the method of manufacturing the fiber reinforced resin product comprising the step of filling up the fiber reinforced resin in a portion corresponding to the boundary surface (BS) between the reinforced resin section (P1) and the simple resin section (P2) before the simple resin is filled up under the condition that the flowing resistance of the fiber reinforced resin becomes higher than that of other portions.
Due to the foregoing, the boundary surface (BS) becomes a free surface not restricted by the metallic mold, and its flow stops. On the boundary surface (BS), fibers are protruded at random from the reinforced resin section (P1) to the simple resin section (P2), that is, the surface becomes fluffy.
Accordingly, it becomes possible to increase a contact area of the reinforced resin with the simple resin. Therefore, the joining strength of the fiber reinforced resin section (fiber reinforced resin) to the simple resin section (simple resin) can be enhanced without increasing the manufacturing cost of the fiber reinforced resin molding.
The present invention may be more fully understood from the description of preferred embodiments of the invention set forth below, together with the accompanying drawings.